The basic action of clipper circuits is to remove the certain portions
of the waveform, above or below the certain levels, as per the
requirements.

Note :
Thus the circuits which are used to clip of unwanted portion of the
waveform, without distorting the remaining part of the waveform are
called clipper circuits or clippers.

The half wave rectifier is the best and simplest type of clipper
circuit which clips off the negative portion of the input signal. By
changing the orientation of the diode in the circuit, positive or
negative portion of the input signal can be clipped off.

The clipper circuits are also called limiters or slicers. The clipper
circuits are mainly classified depending upon the orientation of the
diode in the circuit.

Note :
When the diode is connected in series with the load, such circuit is
called Series Clipper. When the diode is connected in a branch which is
parallel to the load, it is called Parallel Clipper.

1.1 Steps to Analyse Clipper Circuits

The various clipper circuits can be analysed using the following steps,

1. Replace the diodes by one of its equivalent models.

2. Identify ON and OFF states of the diodes and the clipping levels of Vin.